Colorado Springs Canyon Park Home to Helen Hunt Falls
2120 South Cheyenne Cañon Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80906
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
City park; free to visit. Helen Hunt Falls Visitor Center is seasonal and free.
Access
Limited Access
Mountain road and canyon trails; some viewpoints near falls are step-accessible only
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1885 · 1885 Colorado Springs city park bond issue (founding) · Named for Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885) · 1907 William Jackson Palmer 480-acre donation · Former Cripple Creek Short Line railroad (Gold Camp Road)
North Cheyenne Cañon is a steep granite canyon cut by North Cheyenne Creek on the eastern flank of Cheyenne Mountain, just southwest of downtown Colorado Springs. Helen Hunt Jackson, the poet, novelist, and Indian rights advocate who wrote 'A Century of Dishonor' (1881) and 'Ramona' (1884), moved to Colorado Springs in 1873 for her health and lived there until her death in 1885. She walked or rode in a carriage through the canyon as often as she could, and after her death the lower falls became locally known as Helen Hunt Falls.
The same year as Jackson's death, Colorado Springs voters approved the city's first park bond issue and purchased 640 acres in the canyon. In 1907, General William Jackson Palmer, the founder of Colorado Springs, donated an additional 480 acres. The Helen Hunt Falls name was formalized in 1966.
Gold Camp Road, which climbs above the canyon, was originally the Cripple Creek Short Line railroad, a tourist line famous for its scenic stone tunnels and high mountain views. The line ceased operation in 1922, and the right-of-way was converted to an automobile road. The closed-off tunnels along the upper road are the source of the most persistent local ghost-story tradition associated with the canyon.
Helen Hunt Jackson is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs; the local tradition that her grave is along Gold Camp Road is not accurate.
Sources
The North Cheyenne Cañon ghost-story tradition centers on Gold Camp Road rather than on Helen Hunt Falls itself. The road was built on the former bed of the Cripple Creek Short Line railroad, which ceased operation in 1922, and includes a series of stone tunnels. Local tradition holds that drivers passing through the tunnels report small handprints appearing on dust-covered vehicles, voices in the dark, and a sensation of being watched. The legend is one of the longest-running automotive ghost stories on the Front Range and circulates in Colorado Springs high schools and college oral tradition.
A secondary tradition associates the falls with Helen Hunt Jackson herself. Jackson walked or rode in a carriage through Cheyenne Cañon as often as her health allowed, and the lower falls were renamed in her honor after her death in 1885. The local claim that her grave lies above the falls along Gold Camp Road is not supported by historical record; Jackson is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs.
The Gold Camp Road tunnel reports are local urban legend rather than a documented haunting, but the road's history as a converted railroad through Pikes Peak granite gives the tradition unusual durability.
Notable Entities
Visit Helen Hunt Falls, a 36-foot two-segment cascade on North Cheyenne Creek, and continue up the short Silver Cascade Falls trail for a second waterfall. The park covers more than 1,000 acres and is one of the largest city parks in Colorado Springs.
Gold Camp Road, the former Cripple Creek Short Line railroad grade, climbs above the canyon and passes through historic stone tunnels. A long-running local urban legend claims that drivers in the tunnels report handprints on cars and disembodied voices. Drive only in good conditions; sections are dirt and seasonally closed.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Soledad, CA
Los Coches Adobe in Soledad, California began as a two-room adobe completed in 1843 by William and Maria Richardson. By 1854 it served as a stop on the Butterfield Overland Stage and the San Juan Bautista-Soledad line. Donated to the state in 1958, it is a designated California Historical Landmark.
Fort Washington, MD
The Fort Washington Lighthouse stands on the Potomac River below Fort Washington, Maryland. The original 1857 light, authorized by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, was replaced repeatedly; the present 32-foot wooden pyramidal bell tower was built in 1882. The station was unmanned in 1954, transferred to the National Park Service in 2005, and the Coast Guard removed the active light in 2020.
Scituate, MA
Mordecai Lincoln, the great-great-great grandfather of President Abraham Lincoln, established a mill and homestead in Scituate, Massachusetts around 1691-1692. The site at 62-68 Mordecai Lincoln Road is administered by the town's Mordecai Lincoln Property Committee, with public access along a half-mile loop trail and active restoration on the house and outbuildings.